Right of way dispute holding up next phase of Alabama 53 widening

View full sizeHuntsville Times file photoAlabama 53 and Jeff Road intersection in 2007 before the intersection was modified.

HUNTSVILLE, AL - Questions about the next phase of the Alabama 53 widening project continue to roll in.

Readers have basically the same question on their minds. Jimmy Damron asked: "When are they to start actually widening (Alabama) 53? What, if any, timetable do they have?"

Stanley Seay of Huntsville said in an e-mail that he knows a number of people - and says he's certain there are thousands of others - who want to know when the widening project will begin.

"I have not seen anything on this for several months in the news or this newspaper, and understood the contract was to be awarded May 28, 2010," Seay said. "Is this true and will construction commence?"

Paul Fuehrer of Harvest also asked for an update on the Alabama 53 widening.

"This situation has been very slow in coming," he said in an e-mail. "I was one of the individuals that moved here from St. Louis because of the 1995 BRAC. I remember then-Mayor (Loretta) Spencer telling the St. Louis employees that Highway 53 would be finished by 1998.

"I feel that the county commission and the state have been ignoring this need for many years. It takes me almost 30 minutes to commute a mere 10 miles from Harvest to Explorer Boulevard. Somehow there needs to be some priority given to this important travel corridor."

There are several reasons for the slow pace of the widening of Alabama 53 from Huntsville to Interstate 65 near Ardmore.

Chief among them has been waiting for Congress to adopt a transportation bill that would provide the state with federal money for road projects across the state.

Right-of-way issues have played a part in the latest delay for the next phase from just north of Research Park Boulevard to Jeff Road, which will cost an estimated $27 million.

Johnny Harris, the Division 1 engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation, said the DOT continues to work on widening Alabama 53 but is in court to acquire the last piece of property in the right of way.

"We're moving it month-to-month until we that that resolved," Harris said about accepting bids for the project.

He said a hearing concerning the property near Burwell Road is scheduled for September.

Harris said in January that he learned of the right-of-way problem earlier that month, and that the DOT's legal department said it could take a year to resolve.

The DOT had hoped to open bids for the project in February before the conflict arose.

"We won't be able to (bid) the project until the right of way issue is resolved," Harris said in January. "So, the project is basically on hold."

The first phase of widening Alabama 53 was completed in late summer of 2007. That phase involved widening the road to five lanes from just north of Mastin Lake Road to Nick Fitchard Road just north of Research Park Boulevard.

In early 2006, the DOT awarded Reed Contracting Services a $4.9 million contract to build the first phase.

The highway was widened for a short distance in each direction from Jeff Road in 2008 as part of a shopping center development.